"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" -Hebrews 11:1

Monday, May 23, 2011

Case Michael - Birth Story

The last part of this pregnancy really seemed to drag on, from about 34 weeks on I had been having pretty regular contractions, was nauseated most the time and was exhausted. Twice I ended up in the hospital, the first time I was only 35 weeks and they stopped the contractions, the second time I was 36.5 weeks and my contractions were 5 minutes apart but my cervix wasn't changing so they sent me home. I thought for sure this baby would be early (Jax was born at 36 weeks 6 days), at every doctor appointment my cervix was slowly dilating, the baby was already tucked really low and my cervix was very thin. The baby stayed put though not wanting to enter this world too early. On Friday May 20 I had what would be my last doctor appointment, I was 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant and ready to meet my baby boy or girl. Over the weekend I did what every pregnant woman does at 39 weeks pregnant......everything I could think of to get labor started. I jogged 4 miles Saturday morning and put in another 3 miles Sunday morning. Dave and I spent the entire day Saturday doing yard work, I was digging out bushes, digging up sod, loading and unloading pea gravel from Dave's truck to the kids play yard, raking, and basically just trying to stay on my feet in hopes that something would start labor. When I woke up Sunday morning my arms and hands were so sore from all the yard work, I felt like I had spent the day lifting weights. Sunday morning Colt woke up early as always, I figured it would be a good time to get some stuff done so after my run Colt and I did some early morning grocery shopping and then on the way home stopped at Poplar Street Donuts for a "special treat" as Colt calls it. I can honestly say I have not eaten a donut for years, I love a good old fashioned donut but the sugar and fat is not something I enjoy starting my day off with so I pretty much avoid them. However, this morning they just sounded really good. I justified it to myself by saying I'm 39 weeks pregnant and I only gained 25lbs this pregnancy, one donut wouldn't kill me. It was totally worth it! We got our donuts and took them home to Dave and Jax and we all had a delicious tasting donut for breakfast. My mouth is still watering thinking about it. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, playing outside, cleaning and relaxing. We got the kids to bed around 9 and then stayed up watching the series "Damages" on Netflix that we have streamed through our Wii. My contractions had started picking up that evening but they had literally been picking up in the evenings for the last 3 weeks and then every time I went to bed they would stop so I didn't think anything of it, in fact I wasn't even hopeful that it was labor because I knew it would just be a disappointment to me when I woke up in the morning still pregnant. I was falling asleep on the couch so I finally told Dave about 11 that I was going up to bed. I went to bed and fell right asleep.

The next thing I remember is waking up and the clock showing 1:01, Dave still wasn't in bed and I had to pee. I got up and barely made it to the bathroom before I felt water going down my leg, I was still kind of groggy so I thought I had just peed my pants a little bit but when I stood back up a pretty good size contraction started and more water was coming out. It hit me that my water had probably broke so I went downstairs expecting to see Dave asleep on the couch but he was still up watching a movie. I told him I thought my water had broke (I say thought because there was no gush of water like when it broke in the hospital with Jax it was just a constant trickle), he immediately got on the phone to my parents and told them they needed to come. I went back upstairs and got the rest of the stuff in my hospital bag, the contractions were picking up and I was having a hard time talking through them anymore. When I came back downstairs I sat down on the couch and Dave could tell I was in pain and he was starting to get nervous. My mom still was not there so he called the house again and my dad answered and Dave's response was "You still haven't left yet?" my dad reasurred him that my mom had already left and should be there shortly. I went out to the truck to wait and my mom pulled up shortly after that. We were on our way, Dave drove 50 all the way to the hospital (the speed limit was 30-35) I kept telling him he didn't need to speed but with each contraction I had stopped talking completely and he was nervous.

We made it to the hospital and as soon as I told the nurses how fast my delivery went with Jax they got me a gown and checked me right away, at my doctor appointment on Friday I had been 2cm dilated, when I showed up at the hospital I was 4-5cm dilated. They called my doctor right away and she told them she was on her way (she missed Jax's birth and she told me as soon as she got the call she wouldn't be waiting around at home for reports with this baby). At this point I rolled onto my side, closed my eyes and started concentrating on making it through each contraction, they were coming fast and hard and with each one I tried to relax, breathe and pray. As they subsided and I had a break between them I really made my body just relax and enjoy the pain free moment before the next one came. The nurses asked me if I wanted pain medicine and I said no, they Dave chimed in and said "I think you should get one, it will be so much easier", again I said no, then the other nurse said "Have you ever had pain medicine?", I told her I had with my first but I still didn't want any. They left me alone after that. My doctor got there about 2:10 and checked me again, I was at a 6-7 and just about completely effaced. I asked Dave what time it was and he told me 2:10 and I said to him "we are going to have baby before 3", he responded with "I'll take that bet". I was in ALOT of pain at this point, I knew the end was close because I had felt this same pain with Jax and he was born soon after. I kept calm through each contraction, Dave was feeding me ice chips and putting a cold cloth on my head between contractions. Then I started to feel the need to poop and I knew that meant the baby was coming, I remember saying "the baby is coming the baby is coming" and the doctor coming in, she checked me one more time and there was just a small lip left, I breathed through the next contraction and then from there everything is a little fuzzy. I remember moaning and feeling my body start to push, Dave said I was practically doing jumping jacks on the bed. I also remember thinking, I don't want to do this, this hurts so bad, I want this to be over. It was at this point one of the nurses grabbed me, got in my face and said you need to just sit on your bottom and push. The reality check was just what I needed and a couple pushes later the pain was gone. I heard Dave's excited voice say "Care, its a boy!!:. The time was 2:59 am, I had woken up at 1:01 in labor and less than 2 hours later had a healthy, beautiful baby boy in my arms. They put him on my chest and he started squaking just a little bit, his cry sounded so tiny. He was adorable and so tiny. I couldn't believe when they weighed him and he was only 7lbs 9oz, Jax was 7lbs 6 oz and he was 3 weeks early. Colt was 8lbs 9oz and born at the exact same gestation age as Case. They cleaned him up a bit and he wanted to nurse right away, he latched right on and nursed for 25 minutes. I had no tearing and was up in the shower within the hour. The labor was fast, intense and amazing.

By the next day I honestly didn't even feel like I had a baby, the pain was minimal and the recovery was so much easier than with Colt and Jax. I am so thankful for that because I have 2 little boys at home that want my constant attention and need my constant care. Both my parents and Dave's parents were wonderful in caring for the older boys while we were in the hospital, we could not have done it without them. Both our families are amazing and always there for us when we need them. I have 3 beautiful, healthy boys and one super-star husband that I am madly in love with. I feel so blessed to get to spend my life surrounded by these boys!